{"id":6227,"date":"2022-02-21T15:00:37","date_gmt":"2022-02-21T14:00:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sciencefocus.com\/?p=112034"},"modified":"2022-02-21T15:19:11","modified_gmt":"2022-02-21T14:19:11","slug":"how-to-survive-a-real-life-walking-dead-apocalypse","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/rss_feed\/how-to-survive-a-real-life-walking-dead-apocalypse\/","title":{"rendered":"How to survive a real-life Walking Dead apocalypse"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By Stephen Kelly\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Monday, 21 February 2022 at 12:00 am<\/p>

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The zombie apocalypse might sound like a great opportunity to wipe your debts and catch up on your reading but if The Walking Dead<\/em> has taught us anything, it\u2019s that surviving in an undead wasteland is not easy. As the show enters its eleventh and final season, we talk to survival experts and professional preppers about what it gets right and wrong, along with their own tips for surviving a doomsday scenario. After all, after the last couple of years, a zombie apocalypse doesn\u2019t sound quite as far-fetched as it used to.<\/p>\n

STAY AT HOME, AGAIN <\/strong><\/h3>\n

John Ramey, founder of survivalist company The Prepared<\/a> doesn\u2019t recommend sinking your money into a bunker. \u201cInstead of thinking about things like bunkers,\u201d he says. \u201cWe should be focused on hardening our existing homes and communities and making them more resilient, with doors that take more than one kick to bring down. Your home is your castle. It\u2019s the best place to ride out any emergency.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hence why he encourages people to think about how long they can shelter in their homes. \u201cIf you had to lock yourself in your home right now, no gas, no water, no electricity or communication, how long and how well can you do that?\u201d he says. \u201cThe baseline should be two weeks, because that covers most emergencies like natural disasters. Some people go further in their prepping and can last six months. I\u2019m at the point where I can survive indefinitely. I have an indefinite ability to create food and find and treat water and so on.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Survivor in apocalypse \u00a9 GrandFailure<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

SUPPLIES <\/strong><\/h3>\n

Fail to prepare and prepare to be eaten alive, screaming. According to Ramey, you should be well stocked with basic supplies. \u201cThink Maslow\u2019s hierarchy of needs \u2013\u00a0food, water, health, communication,\u201d he says. \u201cYou need first aid supplies. Hygiene supplies: can you wipe your pits and poop? A big example is water storage. The rule of thumb is a gallon of water per person per day. So if you have three people in your household for two weeks that would be 45 gallons. Long-term, do you have the ability to capture and store water? And then the treatment products that come with them. Do you have a water filter or reverse osmosis system, maybe a UV purifier? You need some ability to take wild water and make it safe to drink\u201d<\/p>\n

You should also have what the prepping community refer to as a \u2018bug out bag\u2019, a bag of basic supplies that you can grab when you need to leave the safety of your home. Cameron Carlson, survival expert and member of the Zombie Research Society<\/a>, has a shopping list: \u201cA lighter or waterproof matches, an emergency blanket, a sleeping bag, freeze dried food, a flashlight, batteries, a solar radio, a water purifier, a camping stove, a knife, a gun (if you\u2019re able to have one), a medical kit.\u00a0A tarp which would help build shelter, if needed. A good tip is to pack AAAAA steel wool (the really fine stuff) and a 9-volt battery.\u00a0 You can easily start a fire by touching the steel wool with the battery and the steel wool can compress to fit a lot into a very small place.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ramey also recommends investing in a bike. \u201cThe bicycle is the classic bug-out vehicle,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s the most efficient human machine ever created. Whenever professionals watch The Walking Dead one of the groaners is that it\u2019s eight years later and people are still driving gasoline vehicles. Gas expires in about six months. You can add additives to it and extend that life but the idea that after six to twelve months of society falling that you\u2019re going to find usable gasoline is laughable.\u201d<\/p>\n

SKILLS<\/strong><\/h3>\n

It doesn\u2019t matter how many supplies you have, however, if you do not have the skills to use them.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe big one is first aid and a core medical understanding on how to clean and dress wound,\u201d says Ramey. \u201cIf Daryl from The Walking Dead gets hit in the shoulder with a crossbow bolt, how are you going to be able to handle it? Modern society is great, but we\u2019ve lost thousands of years worth of hard-fought survival knowledge in the last hundred years. Many of our grandparents would have at least had some basic knowledge of how to handle a wound. Even if you take a standard first aid course, they teach on the assumption that you can pick up the phone and a hero will show up seven minutes later with drugs and electricity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Outdoor survival skills are also essential. \u201cSimilarly,\u201d adds Ramey, \u201cPeople don\u2019t know how to navigate anymore. There\u2019s now a thing in the search and rescue community called Death by GPS. So, do you know how to read a map? Do you know how to start a fire? Do you know how to create a winter shelter so you won\u2019t die from exposure? A less obvious example is conflict resolution and situational awareness. Are you paying attention to what\u2019s around you? Do you know how to diffuse tense situations without resorting to violence?\u201d<\/p>\n

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Man running away from zombies \u00a9 GrandFailure<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

WHERE TO GO <\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>\n

At some point, you may be forced to leave the house and seek shelter elsewhere. But where should you go?<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you live in New York City or London and the zombie apocalypse happens, you probably need to get to the country to get away from people,\u201d says Ramey. \u201cBut even in a zombie apocalypse, that desire to be alone could change. Because as we see in The Walking Dead, at some point you\u2019re going to need community. Community wins 99% of the time compared to this kind of lone wolf imagery of walking alone into the sunset, with your dog by your side and a shotgun over your shoulder.\u201d<\/p>\n

The idea of humanity tearing itself apart after a post-apocalyptic event is a popular one, but Micheal Zalewski, author of Practical Doomsday: A User\u2019s Guide to the End of the World, doesn\u2019t buy it.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think most people would rather quietly suffer than harm an innocent person,\u201d he says. \u201cA more profound risk is that in the times of uncertainty and fear, we tend to lash out against out-groups. But in the zombie scenario specifically, we already have a clear enemy. I think that would bring us closer together, not drive us apart. And more prosaically, we\u2019re not machines: we can get ill, we need to sleep, we can\u2019t learn all the skills conceivably needed to get through every possible calamity. Being on good terms with a doctor or a plumber can save the day.\u201d<\/p>\n

ZOMBIES<\/strong><\/h3>\n

But what about the zombies themselves? According to zombie expert Cameron Carlson, it depends on whether they are the rabid kind that run like wild animals (think 28 Days Later) or the slow, shuffling The Walking Dead variety.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf they are fast, I know I am not out running them,\u201d he says. \u201cSo you have to turn to stealth.\u00a0 Move in the shadows, underground, any way to avoid them.\u00a0If you get into a confrontation with a fast mover, you know where there is one there is more.\u00a0Unless you have multiple people in your group who know how to use weapons tactically and proficiently, you\u2019re done.\u00a0As for the slow ones, just move around them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Carlson also recommends making use of dogs, who can sense threats or major changes. \u201c<\/strong>Dogs have a very keen sense of smell, much more than you or I,\u201d he says. \u201cThey would be a good warning device. Watch the dogs, if they begin to act strange, growl, show their teeth, or pace a lot, something is wrong. They could give you an early warning.\u201d<\/p>\n

An intriguing difference between the UK and the US, of course, are the two countries\u2019 approach to gun ownership. How would this affect the outcome of trying to survive a zombie apocalypse?<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s good and bad,\u201d says Ramey. \u201cIf I\u2019m at my home and the zombies are trying to get in to eat my face, then my last line of defence is a shotgun in my hand. In that regard, American gun culture provides a benefit. But that also then can create a negative because if society is falling apart and people are panicking, those people are going to be armed. And you know, we\u2019ve certainly seen over the last two years that even in a mild emergency about a third of society is going to lose their minds and be horrible to deal with. So, blessings and curses.\u201d<\/p>\n

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